“Bojdan needs you.”“Thanks.” I crawled out of bed, and before I could leave the wagon, Anezka grabbed my shoulders.“Thank you for saving us,” she said.I wasn’t sure what to say, but I hugged her back. “You should carry a dagger, and practice how to stab someone,” I whispered to her. “All of you should.”“We’re just talliers and cooks and supply keepers, we’re not… you, Executioness.”I sighed. “I’m just like you. I’m in the middle of my life. A mother who helped in a butcher shop. There is nothing special about me, I swear to you.”But I could see Anezka didn’t believe me.I crawled out of the wagon and got to the road where lantern light showed a small group of muddy men in tattered peasant’s clothes, carrying crates of vegetables and dried meats, trudging quickly down the road. They intermixed with the caravan as they did so.They all carried simple swords. I saw a single crossbowman in blue cloth further down, surcoat slapping the backs of his knees.Their faces did look gaunt as they slipped off into the shadows just past the caravan’s edges.At the front of the stalled caravan, Bojdan stood with Jal by the Roadmaster’s wagon.
